UnitedHealth sells Optum Florida stake to TPG as CooperCompanies cuts guidance and Amgen slides

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Summary · why it matters

UnitedHealth has sold an interest in some of its Optum Health operations in Florida to private equity firm TPG, part of the health conglomerate's effort to recover from a collapse in profits last year. CFO Wayne DeVeydt told Bloomberg News that Optum Health margins will be around 2% this year, above prior expectations, and should rise to around 4% in 2027 and 6% the following year. Amgen fell more than 8%, its worst single-day decline since 2016, after Novartis announced a Phase 3 trial failure for the heart disease therapy pelacarsen, which it is developing with Ionis Pharmaceuticals; BMO Capital Markets downgraded Amgen to Market Perform from Market Outperform with a $450 price target. CooperCompanies dropped 13% after issuing fiscal 2026 guidance below consensus, with revenue of $4.229B-$4.252B versus the prior $4.285B-$4.321B and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $4.51-$4.55 versus $4.58-$4.66 previously, and said its board decided to keep CooperSurgical rather than sell it while raising its share buyback authorization to $3B from $2B. Novo Nordisk fell more than 1% premarket after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Underweight from Equal-weight, citing the semaglutide patent cliff, and the S&P 500 Health Care Sector Index slipped more than 3.5% for the week.

Impact on stocks 19

Biotech & Genomic Medicine▼ · 9 stocks
Amgen Inc
AMGN
▼ NegativeCapitalrelevance

BMO downgraded Amgen to Market Perform with a $450 price target after Novartis's pelacarsen Phase 3 failure.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc
IONS
▼ NegativeTechnologyrelevance

Novartis announced a Phase 3 trial failure for pelacarsen, which it is developing with Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

Novo Nordisk A/S
NOV
▼ NegativeCapitalrelevance

Morgan Stanley downgraded Novo Nordisk to Underweight from Equal-weight, citing the semaglutide patent cliff.

Novartis AG
NOVN
± MixedTechnologyrelevance

Novartis announced a Phase 3 trial failure for pelacarsen, the heart disease therapy it is developing with Ionis, but the article gives no clear read-through for Novartis itself.

Aging Population▲ · 3 stocks
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated
UNH
▲ PositiveCapitalrelevance

UnitedHealth sold an Optum Florida stake to TPG and guided Optum Health margins to ~2% this year, rising to ~4% in 2027 and 6% after, aiding its profit recovery.

Financials▼ · 3 stocks
Morgan Stanley
MS
▼ NegativeCapitalrelevance

Morgan Stanley downgraded Novo Nordisk to Underweight from Equal-weight.

TPG Inc
TPG
± MixedCapitalrelevance

TPG is buying an interest in UnitedHealth's Optum Health operations in Florida, but terms and impact are not detailed.

Health Care▲ · 2 stocks
Brain-Computer Interface▲ · 1 stocks
Robotics & Physical AI▲ · 1 stocks

Theme Impact 3

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